Council Talks About the Future of the Municipal Pool

The Piedmont City Council Monday night unanimously authorized an expenditure of $108,000 from the general fund to finance the transition to a municipal pool.

Also, in taking over the pool from the Piedmont Swim Club, the council discussed the possibility that the municipal pool phase might last only a year. Recreation Director Mark Delventhal said he was making inquiries about private companies that could manage the pool on behalf of the city.

Councilman Garrett Keating said the council would be interested in surveying private options.

As the swim club has operated the pool for decades, it has discounted the fees for swim club members. City officials will take a look at increasing those fees, perhaps even phasing in increases over several years, Delventhal said.

The fees will be reviewed at upcoming hearings before the Recreation Commission, Keating said. Also, they will be contained in the budget proposal that City Administrator Geoff Grote presents in May. That budget will contain a new line item, Grote said: Aquatics Division in the Recreation Department.

The first session of summer swim lessons, a big revenue generator, begins June 5. The rec department is aiming for a smooth transition with the swim club, for the most part, collecting fees for the second session (which starts July 3), while the city, after the July 1 transition, will administer the lessons itself, Delventhal said.

The rec department will set fees for individual programs after the hearings. The council will have input into longer-term items such as gate fees and family passes, Delventhal said.

Citing the general fund expenditure of $108,000, resident George Childs noted a consultant’s report a year ago that estimated the pool would cost the city about $300,000 a year. Childs asked about revenue levels.

Grote said he wasn’t prepared to make an estimate until presenting the budget proposal in May. He said rec department programs in general, many of which bring in revenue, cost the city less than $100,000 in taxpayer dollars in some years and other years more than that.

Delventhal has been negotiating with the swim club for shared management expenses as the city makes the financial and administrative transition. Delventhal and Jeff Eorio, the city’s aquatics consultant, are negotiating with the swim club for the possible purchase of used equipment now in use, such as pool covers, reels and lane lines.

The city has already made contact with the Alameda County Health Department in expediting applications for necessary permits, said Eorio.

The $108,000 appropriation will also cover expenditures for an improved chemical feeder system, diving board refinishing and minor concrete repairs, including new rubberized compound in expansion joints. In general, the pool, built in 1964, has been well maintained, Grote said.

The council questioned Eorio about his fees. With his time valued at $115/hour and his technical sub-consultant Joseph Serachi at $150/hour, Eorio said $20,000 was a conservative estimate for the consultants’ time through the end of the fiscal year.

Councilwoman Margaret Fujioka said the city should have a standard professional services contract to be used every time the city enters into a contract, rather than an ad hoc contract such as the one with Eorio.